Seedream 5.0 Pro vs Seedream 5.0 Lite vs Seedream 5.0 Flash vs Seedream 4.5
Seedream is the image model family from ByteDance's Seed team, behind Dreamina, Doubao and Jimeng. Four models are live on fal in October 2026: Seedream 5.0 Pro, the flagship; 5.0 Lite, the fast tier; 5.0 Flash, the cheapest and fastest, added to these pages on 22 October; and 4.5, the late-2025 model that 5.0 replaced. Each has its own page with the same twelve prompts.
ByteDance · facts checked
Which one to pick
Seedream 5.0 Pro
$0.068 per image up to 1536 by 1536 in area via fal
Text, layouts and anything that ships.
Seedream 5.0 Lite
$0.035 per image via fal
Volume and drafts at half the price.
Seedream 5.0 Flash
$0.027 per image via fal
Drafts, layouts and quick edits at 2.7 cents and about 15 seconds an image; check any numbers it writes.
Seedream 4.5
$0.04 per image via fal
Only if a pipeline is already tuned to it.
Side by side, measured
| Model | Price | Seconds per image | Cost of its fixed set | Sizes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | $0.068 per image up to 1536 by 1536 in area via fal | 26 to 80 | $0.81 12 prompts | 1024 to 2048 pixels a side, any shape in between |
| Seedream 5.0 Lite | $0.035 per image via fal | 23 to 39 | $0.42 12 prompts | 2K, 3K or 4K; the minimum is larger than most models' maximum, so every sample below is 2K |
| Seedream 5.0 Flash | $0.027 per image via fal | 12 to 20 | $0.32 12 prompts | Any width and height whose total is between 1024 by 1024 and 2048 by 2048 pixels, or the auto_1K and auto_2K presets |
| Seedream 4.5 | $0.04 per image via fal | 9 to 16 | $0.48 12 prompts | 2K or 4K; every sample below is 2K |
Seconds and cost are from our own runs of each model's fixed set: the same 12 prompts for every model that makes pictures from a prompt. Open a model for every picture and the request behind it.
Every version
| Version | Released | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 3.0 | Native 2K output and bilingual text. | |
| Seedream 4.0 | Generation and editing unified, 4K output, multi-image references. | |
| Seedream 4.5 seedream-4.5 | Better editing consistency and text; the last of the 4.x line. | |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro seedream-5-0-pro | Prompt reasoning, text in 14 languages, dense layouts, up to ten reference images. | |
| Seedream 5.0 Lite seedream-5-0-lite | The fast tier at $0.035 per image with 2K to 4K output. | |
| Seedream 5.0 Flash seedream-5-0-flash | Date not verified | The cheapest, fastest 5.0 tier: $0.027 an image at 1K to 2K, with an edit endpoint and up to 10 references. Listings disagree on a September or 1 October 2026 release. |
Frequently asked questions
Is Seedream free?
In Dreamina and ByteDance's China apps, yes, with daily credits. The API and hosts charge per image.
What is the difference between Seedream 5.0 Pro and Lite?
Pro reasons about the prompt and handles text and dense layouts; Lite is the fast tier at about half the price. Both pages run the same twelve prompts.
What is Seedream 5.0 Flash?
The cheapest Seedream 5.0 tier, $0.027 an image on fal. In our run it was the fastest Seedream and made a clean product edit, but mislabelled the chart.